Six felony theft charges have been filed against former Healdsburg Youth Soccer League President Kyle Joseph Hoffman in connection with the apparent disappearance of as much as $58,000 in league funds.
Hoffman, 37, is scheduled to appear Monday in Sonoma County Superior Court for arraignment.
Prosecutors last week filed charges after a drawn-out investigation by Healdsburg Police that involved auditing Hoffman's and the league's bank accounts and the seizure of his computer and other records.
Healdsburg Police Lt. Kevin Young described it as a complex investigation. "The district attorney has reviewed it and directed the defendant to appear in court," he said, declining further comment.
Hoffman is charged with three counts of grand theft and three counts of making fictitious checks.
Problems surfaced for the youth soccer organization last summer when checks began to bounce and bills went unpaid. There wasn't enough money to cover the cost of white striping on the soccer fields.
Police were alerted by soccer league board members of apparent fraudulent transactions by Hoffman totalling $58,312.
About 300 boys and girls aged 18 and under play in the league. The organization's funds are derived primarily from the $110 registration fee paid by players' families, which is intended for field fees, uniforms, equipment and other costs.
League members said Hoffman, the president and treasurer for the organization, was the only one with access to the bank accounts. He wrote league checks to himself and deposited them into his own account, according to court record.
Many of the check's memo entries indicate they were written to reimburse Hoffman for league expenses, according to thet documents.
But league board members said there were numerous unexplained and questionable checks, including a $3,180 check Hoffman wrote to himself for "tax payment/fees," even though the League is a non-profit that pays no taxes. A $425 check Hoffman wrote had a memo saying it was to "reimburse for IRS tax prep."
Former Mayor Lisa Wittke Schaffner, at the time soccer league board member, said the board asked Hoffman several times at board meetings for the bank statements, but he failed to provide them.
According to court documents, Michele Payne, also a board member, told police she requested that Hoffman provide her with receipts for the purchases he had made using the league's finances.
"He had told her that he did not have any of the receipts or records that confirmed he had spent the money on the items listed on the checks' memos entry," Detective Michael Shooter stated in his search warrant request.
Hoffman did not return a call Thursday. He previously declined to comment when contacted by The Press Democrat.
Police in October used a search warrant to scrutinize Hoffman's bank account and financial statements and transaction records from Jan. 1, 2008 to July 29, 2010.
In November, they served a search warrant on his Healdsburg home and seized four laptop computers, compact discs and other digital data archives, including his tax returns.
Publicity over the case led to an outpouring of financial support for the league. It generated around $12,000 in donations, including contributions from the San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team and from Adidas.
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